Stocks higher before Bernanke speech

Friday

Aug 31, 2012 at 6:19 AM

NEW YORK - U.S. futures are heading higher before Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke takes the stage in Jackson Hole for a central bank conference. Many investors are already pricing in expectations that the Fed will take no major action to reinvigorate the economy just yet.

All major indexes are down in a week of light trading, but it appeared that some investors today had not completely written off some form of quantitative easing, even if the chances are slim.

Dow Jones industrial futures are up 78 points to 13,060. The broader S&P futures have tacked on 8.3 points to 1,405.40 and Nasdaq futures are up 19.25 points to 2,773.